ToTT: Chapter 13.5
Chapter 13.5 December 22nd, X794 , Continent of Fiore Snow blanketed almost everywhere, with the exception of the white sandy beach and the ocean. The main building looked like a castle from a child's bedtime story, gracefully painted by the white, frozen water that is snow. Christmas music supplied a calming ambience for it's guests, whom included the members of both and Unchained Soul. As a gift from Ezra Akiyama and Anatasia Zharkov, his fiancée, their friends were invited on an All-Inclusive trip to the popular tourist resort for the Christmas holidays. It had been a few months since the children from the future had disappeared back to their own time, leaving only the parent-to-be's. While Sif, Ezra's younger adoptive sister, and her boyfriend Eugene were relaxing in a private bath together, talking quietly, the Ace of Sabertooth and the Psion were curled up in front of the fireplace in the tranquil lounge of the resort, both of them snoozing away, with Ana happily in Ezra's arms. Hayden Chance, and a few of the more rowdy members of Sabertooth, including it's Master, Sting, were engaged in a round of some sort of card game that originated from the Western Continent, with the added element of the "Strip Punishment"; Hayden had already lost his jacket and boots, Sting was without his jacket, shoes and trousers, Olga was in shorts, and a few other members were in similar situations. Atsuko and Shana were in one the shops in the resort, trying to pick out a swimsuit for the times they'd be at the beach. Despite it being winter, it wouldn't be much of a problem since Atsuko could summon a giant lavaish monster to warm things up. In the case Ryuunosuke and Sakura, the pinkette was dragging her husband around, going on their own little date to Ryuunosuke's annoyance. Kurogane was on the beach, taking a stroll and watching the sun set. Mune and Eriko were just enjoying their time together. "I wish we had more chances to do things like this.", Sif said happily as she playfully locked her hands with Eugene's, making his arms dance like a marionette, slowly. "We've been doing so many missions lately that I'm physically sore still...and I didn't even have enough time to buy everyone at least three presents!", she continued, with a rather amusing whiney tone in her voice. "Same here, there's been way too much work lately." Eugene said in response as he wrapped his arm around Sif, pulling her closer to him. "Well, we get a few days to relax don't we? We'll have the time to pick out more presents. We'll even have some time to be alone." He said this with a slight suggestive tone with a teasing smile. In response, Sif simply chuckled and leaned against him, letting her eyes close with a smile on her face. Elsewhere, Hayden and Sting were engaged in a childish little brawl, with the game table now flipped, and the other players leaving to go spend time elsewhere in the resort. Ezra was still snoozing on the sofa he and Ana had claimed, but Ana had disappeared; she was in the restaurant's kitchen, preparing a small meal for herself and Ezra. Seeing as how the two co-owned the resort now, she had told all their friends that they can make whatever they want when they feel hungry, as the resort had closed to the public until after the holidays. Ana hummed quietly to herself as she worked. Aaaaand then the brawl between Dragon and Spirit got a little intense. A shining white Roar collided with a dim Bluster, and the explosion had engulfed the gaming area. The two continued a physical struggle combined with random spells in their arsenals, until they both suddenly froze. Something was behind them. Something with such an intense storage of Magical Power within them that almost everyone on the premises had felt chills go down their spines just now. Hayden and Sting both turned, and saw a pair of legs. They slowly scanned their eyes upwards, only to meet Ana's glaring down at them with electrified corneas. "This is your one warning, you two...", she said softly, "You are grown men...act like it.", she said without shouting, yet there was still more fear in the two than there would have been if she had shouted in the first place. Suddenly, a shatter! A picture frame had fallen off a nearby wall and completely broke apart. Ana's face went blank, followed by her eyes closing and her eyebrow twitching. Hayden and Sting clung to each other in fear. Not even Ezra made them do that...yet. A turquoise light shimmered along Ana's body. Her power being displayed. Both men yelped like frightened puppies. "Do either of you know...how expensive that painting was?!", she said with her voice becoming more forceful, "No? THEN I GUESS I'LL HAVE TO BEAT IT INTO YOU BOTH!! COME HERE!!!", she shrieked as electrical energy surged around her arms as she started chasing the two, whom were both running for dear life. The chase went on through the resort, with the occasional boom and echoed scream or two every few minutes. "Eriko, we should probably get out of here." Mune said with Eriko nodding in response as they left the chaos that was right in front of them. The sounds of the chasing and explosions that followed suit could be heard throughout the resort. "Now what are those morons up to?" Shana said in an irritated voice as this sounded like it was getting out of hand. "From the sound of it, Wolf and Sting got Ana mad." Atsuko said in response. Because of Eugene, most everyone else in Unchained Soul took to calling Hayden Wolf. Ryuunosuke called him a mutt. "Looks like everyone's getting rowdy huh?" Eugene said being able to hear due to his heightened senses. "Well, I'm glad they're having fun." He said as he relaxed into the bath. Since similar chaos was normal at Fairy Tail, he was oblivious to the actual scene. It wasn't until a crackle of lightning flooded everyone's ears that the chaos had subsided, clearly Ana had vented enough. Ana was stood triumphant on the stunned bodies of Hayden and Sting, both charred by lightning. She had a rather smug expression on her face. "Don't break anything else.", she said passive-aggressively, as she walked back to the kitchen, fixing her ruffled appearance. "Yes, Ma'am...", both men groaned out weakly. When Ana got back to the kitchen, she saw that Ezra, now awake, had took over cooking their meal, greeting her with a warm smile. Ana said nothing, only looping her arms around Ezra from behind and resting her face against his back. Over the course of the evening, everyone had made their dinners and settled in for the night. Of course, everyone who was a guest that is... 2:32am, December 23rd X794 A sleeping Hayden sat up, awake, rather abruptly, his canine ears twitching as he remained motionless. He shrugged, and got out of bed, moving to go downstairs for some extra water, narrowly remembering that he wasn't exactly PG13 in his current state of dress! Or lack thereof, for that matter. After putting on his usual trousers, he lazily shuffled down to the restaurant kitchen to grab some water from the fridge, when his ears perked up and he turned; hurling the bottle at something he assumed he heard. But nothing was there. He looked around for a minute, taking full advantage of a Werewolf's affinity to night; he was able to see perfectly in any darkness, and his senses were even more enhanced than in daylight. After finding nothing, he went back to bed. 4:03am, December 23rd X794 "Dumbass, the one person we were told to be careful of, almost got you!!", said a voice, but Telepathically. Two figures emerged from shadows in the resort's lounge. "You're lucky boss gave us these suits, seriously.", the first voice thought again. "Oh, shut up. At least I had the balls to go and plant the damn thing.", the voice of the second figure said in response, again in a mental conversation. "Let's just get--''", the same figure went to think-say, only to be blasted out of a window by a beam of black light. The first figure was also promptly, quickly, brought to the floor by another person in a dark combat suit. "I ''knew I sensed something down here." said an annoyed voice. Hayden. "Go and get the other guy, this one isn't going anywhere anytime soon.", said an ally of the first voice. Eugene. "So, we got intruders, lovely." Eugene said with a sigh. "Well, they planted something, either a bomb or some other device like a camera or a tracking device. So let's get the answer out of these guys." Within half a minute, Hayden returned, dragging the other figure by his collar, tossing him down beside his accomplice. Hayden crouched, swinging his fist down on the ground just in front of the face of the second intruder. The ground cracked, and the intruder shivered in fear. "So. You gonna tell us what the hell you are doing here? What exactly did you `plant`?", he almost barked, getting straight to the point. "Our job is done. We don't need to fret, even if we do die in the process.", said the figure being restrained by Eugene, with a stoic expression and emotionless voice. "We don't have to tell you squat.", he said. The second intruder was simply staying quiet, clearly somewhat fearful. "Oh you will tell us." Eugene said with a scary smile as he forced a truth serum down their mouths. "The handy thing about plants, they can be used for all sorts of things, including truth serums. Hmm, it should be starting to take effect now so... What did you plant and where is it? And who sent you here and why?" "Anonymous job. Our task was to plant five Ether Bombs. Just one of those suckers is five hundred times stronger than the Jupiter Cannon.", the intruder said as a grin began to form. "When those things blow, half the country will be flattened like a pancake!", he said as he continued speaking. Hayden looked almost mortified, but shook it off. He grabbed the speaking intruder by his face, glaring down. "Where did you plant those bombs?", he asked, utilising the truth serum's effects on the intruder. "Swimming area. Spa. Basement. Room 403. Room 102.", he said. This time, it was both Hayden and Eugene that lhad expressions of worry. "Room 403 and room 102...isn't that where Kurogane, and Atsuko and Shana are sleeping?!", Hayden barked at Eugene, his tail bushy from agitation. "First step I guess is to get them out of there." Eugene said as he pushed a button. Very quickly, all of the Unchained Soul members minus Sif had appeared in full combat gear. They were trained for this kind of thing. "Ah crap, Sif wasn't around when we implemented this..." Due to the two of them being more involved with their future children, they hadn't really had the time to deal with the Unchained Soul stuff. "Wolf, wake up the others and tell them to get out of here." He said before disappearing into thin air, heading for the room he and Sif shared. "We'll get the Dokodemo Door set up to link to a safer location." Sakura said as she began setting it up. "Sif, get up! We gotta move!" Eugene said as he shook his girlfriend who was asleep. Thinking it was faster, he just picked her up and rushed out the room. Hayden simply let his head roll back, and let out a deep, powerful howl that went on for around five seconds. It became clear that it was somewhat of an official "alarm call", as numerous members of Sabertooth including Ezra and Ana had came from their rooms to investigate. "I ain't got the time to explain so move!", Hayden bellowed, and the tigers did so without question. However, Ezra and Ana stood by, considering they own the joint. "Some meatheads planted five Ether Bombs around the resort.", Hayden said to the two, something that clearly pissed them both off. "We should work on clearing the surrounding residences.", Ezra said as he Requipped into normal clothing, as he and Ana both quickly moved out to warn those who lived near the resort. Hayden also exited, but stopped at in the middle of the long approaching path leading from the main resort building, looking back. "Bastards.", the Werewolf simply muttered. "Oh no! I forgot my pendant!" Atsuko said before rushing back to her room. Hearing this, he wanted to go back as well but he had Sif in his arms. "Wolf, would you mind getting Atsuko back here? She's still inside!" "That idiot...!", Hayden muttered below his breath, before taking off at blinding speed into the building after Atsuko. He paused, sniffing the air to catch her scent. But as soon as he got it... BOOM! One of the bombs had went off! Hayden took off in a sprint towards Atsuko's scent, living up to his epithet of "Lightbreaker". Another one went off. Hayden looked behind him, the energy from the bomb was speedily catching up as he moved through the resort towards Atsuko. Soon enough, he caught up to her as she was caressing the pendant she mentioned. "We gotta go, like now!", he said with a bark at her, as he scooped her up into his arms princess style. Without even letting her respond, he took off down the halls, only to have one of the bombs destroy his escape route. "Dammit..", he muttered as he turned tail. He went back along the hall, with a third one, the one in Atsuko's room, exploding just as they went past. A lucky miss. The same with the fourth as they made their way down. However, the fourth had completely blocked off all proper escape routes! Hayden could hear the fifth one charging up, ready to blow. It was very close, judging from how well he could hear it. Hayden looked down at Atsuko, and inhaled as he made a choice. He, with Atsuko still in his arms, dived into a nearby room and moved into the corner. There wasn't a balcony to jump from, for it seemed to be a storage room. Hayden dropped Atsuko gently, and adjust his position so that he was basically completely obscuring her... "As long as I can save her...this stupid move is worth it!", Hayden thought into himself, accidentally allowing himself to form a smile of relief...as the final bomb went off, engulfing the last part of the resort standing; the area containing the pair. "HAYDEN!", Sif yelled from the outside as neither of the two exited the building before the last bomb exploded. Since Sif was now awake, he let her down and began to use his plants to carefully move away the rubble. As he did so, there was something erupting from it. A giant creature burned through the rubble. It was the one Atsuko could summon. It must have come out on it's own. When it disappeared again, there was now a large hole and if they looked down it, they'd see Hayden and Atsuko unconscious but alive. Hayden seemed to take the majority of the injuries however. "Oy, let's get them some first aid!" Eugene exclaimed as he jumped in and came back up with them. "Shit.", Ezra said as he bounded towards the pair. "Sif, come on, get to work!", he basically ordered, as he focused his Healing Magic moreso on Hayden, due to both the extent of his injuries, and the fact that he had more prowess with it than Sif, who had turned hers upon Atsuko. "Atsuko will be fine in a few minutes, but Hayden'll need real treatment after this.", Ezra said aloud to the group around him. The next few minutes were nothing but silence, as everyone thought their prayers for both of them to awaken. It wouldn't be long until Atsuko did just that, but Hayden was a different story.. "We should get him to a hospital now!" Eugene said as he began readying the coordinates for the nearest hospital on the Dokodemo Door. A day or two later... It was Christmas Eve now and Hayden had still not awoken. Atsuko had visited often and was currently next to his beside due to feeling guilty. "I'm so sorry Hayden... It's my fault you're like this." She was close to tears as she said this. Although there was no major response, it almost seemed like one of Hayden's ears twitched after registering the sound of Atsuko's voice, slightly. She noticed that Hayden's ears twitched and gained a sense of hope. "Hayden come on, wake up! You can't die like this! Your kid's existence sort of depends on it!" His ears twitched every few seconds in response to her voice, evidently. Without fully waking up, his fingers clench gently for a second or two. A little later, his eyes opened a fraction of the way, staring blankly at the ceiling at the moment. "Hayden, you're awake! Thank goodness!" She said before hugging him as he began to sit up. Once she realized what she was doing, her face became flushed red and she nervously backed away. "Don't get the wrong idea you moron!" She said out of embarrassment. Hayden stayed quiet for a few moments, letting himself wake up properly while being hugged. "I knew you were warming up to me~", he said smugly, even after just waking up from a mini-coma. "That hug was too real to not be hinting a little something...", he continued, "Not that I'm complaining.", he concluded, with his usual teasing voice, but his volume was a little low since he'd just woke up. He rubbed his eyes as he yawned. "Shut up! It's because you almost got killed because of me!" Atsuko exclaimed in response out of embarrassment. "And it's not just you, I've gotten used to guys in general thanks to Eugene and Kurogane!" Without a word, or even a care about the risk, Hayden leant forth and tiredly rested his forehead against Atsuko's for a moment. "I'm glad you made it out of that okay.", he said softly as he let his eyes close, but he remained awake, staying in his current position. His breathing followed a soothing pattern; nice, slow and calm. In response to this, she could barely utter a word. "Eh, eh, EH!?!" Was all she could muster out before immediately backing away with an even darker red over her face. "What do you think you're doing you imbecile!?!" "Werewolves have a habit of showing physical gratitude. If you don't like it, you just have to tell me...or just do what you usually do and hit me.", he said with a slight chuckle in his voice. He raised his arms over his head, stretching out, letting out a groan as the feeling of relief went through him, before letting his hands settle on his own lap again. Still rather tired from the ordeal, his ears seemed to droop. "Honestly, I would if it did anything to you." Atsuko said in an irritated tone as her punches didn't measure up to what he normally took and therefore didn't really affect him. "Well, since you seem to be fine, I'll just take my leave." Atsuko said before regaining her composure and started walking out the door. Right when Hayden's attention towards her waned though, she turned around and kissed him on the cheek. "That's my thanks for saving me." She whispered before pulling back and giving him a smile. She then left the room with a small smile on her face as she walked down the hall. "She really has grown." Kurogane said from a slight distance. "Remember how we first met her?" "Yeah, she pummeled me in the stomach and almost sent me out the window..." Eugene said in response as he remembered the day. "It's good to see that she can interact with guys normally now." Kurogane said as the two of them left the area themselves. Meanwhile, Hayden was just sat there on his bed, looking down at his hands. But something was different. He was smiling to himself, in a way that he had never done before. It was a real smile. One that Atsuko had caused. He was also blushing somewhat, and his tail was wagging gently, brought upon by his happy emotions. After a while, everyone else had heard about Hayden having awoken and cheered. Especially with Christmas being the next day, it brought everybody into a cheery mood, allowing them to enjoy the holiday in peace. Until the planned party, people would be able to do as they pleased. Who knows what lies in store? Elsewhere, Sif, despite being a user of Requip, was styling her hair by hand, something even Ezra wondered about why she does. Sif had a blank face as she held her hair in numerous ways. Short hair was a blessing but also a curse; not much to do with it! Sif had chopped off her waist-length locks in favour of a shoulder-length 'do a few weeks ago. With a sharp sigh, she released her hair to let it flow down again and closed her eyes. After a moment of silence, she spoke aloud. "You gonna come in or are you just gonna lurk in the hall staring at me?" she said with a chuckle, half-turning her head to look at a certain raven-haired Dragon Slayer she called lover. Also rather recently, Sif seemed to develop the beginning stages of the same Mana Tracer ability Ezra possesses (although Sif is convinced he just Enchanted it into her or something, the guy is almost a literal God!). "I can't help but stare, you're really beautiful after all. I can't take my eyes off of you when you're around." Eugene said with a small laugh as he entered the room. "I'm lucky to have you as my girlfriend and future wife." Growing up away from any civilization, he actually wondered if he ever would get a mate. He didn't have any sort of luck with it, it didn't help he was for the most part oblivious, until he met Sif. Well, it was after they got over the bit where she tried to kill him at first. "Kiss-up.", she retorted with, sporting an amused smile. She lifted a hair-tie and simply tied her hair into a loose ponytail for now as she stood up. "Remind me to hand out everyone's gifts before they leave tonight.", the woman said with a chuckle as she approached the Dragon Slayer, looping her arms around his mid-torso from the front, looking up at him, just a few inches difference in height. "Have I missed much downstairs? It seems quiet.", she asked casually instead of with her just-prior jokey tone. Category:Forest Dragon Slayer